Day 3 of ANIMEGACON 2012

So! Las Vegas’s 2nd anime convention was… well, small. Their whole “GO BIG OR GO HOME!” attitude and determination to make it a veteran con-goer experience was for the most part, too ambitious for them.  All we saw were giant rooms with very few people in there and no moderators for the panels. Seriously, for their “Mega Events” Rooms, they had a big stage with a table and no chairs. The previous panel had their guests sit on top of the tables!  As for the cosplayers, we saw a few good ones and some that look like they either bought their costumes online or did it at the last minute. As for me, I fall in the latter because I was cosplaying for the first time. I was Wendy from Gravity Falls and the only thing I had to make the look complete was the teal plaid shirt, dark skinny jeans, boots, a furry aviator hat, the orange wig (which was uncomfortably hot and tight) and her name tag. Only one person recognized my costume and happily admitted that she was a big fan of the show. Maybe by next year, we’ll see a few more Gravity Falls cosplayers?

We only went on Sunday for Vampy’s (Linda Le) panel and that alone was worth the $25. We saw Vig Mignona with a very petite but attractive girl cosplaying as Felicia after his panel ended. We saw Quinton Flynn happily talking with Vampy before he went on stage for his panel. We went to the exhibit hall and saw a few venders and their artist alley. The notable venders were ABCTOY4ME (with an amusing sign begging customers to support their online gaming addiction) and J-List/J-Box. I only bought a Funko Chococat figure and Neko Tamago keychain from those two. Other venders included someone selling Nazi-type uniforms, gothic Lolita costume, Yaoi dounjinshi comics, those Necomimi ears, the usual weapons booth and other smaller vendors selling almost the same things. Their gaming hall was huge and we only played a few rounds of SSMB Brawl. We walked by the card game room and it smelled awful! Didn’t get to experience the maid café but their servers were very cute-looking.

Overall, it was an all right experience but it literally pales in comparison to Anime Vegas. I remember the first one when it was just a small room from the Cashman Center. Each year, they grew bigger and better with their events and guests but had recently settled for the Alexis Resort as their venue. Animegacon still has a long way to go and hopefully they can do it without controversy (http://jezebel.com/5933319/anime-convention-bizarrely-offers-established-cosplayer-a-stripper-gig-in-exchange-for-200-and-snacks)

Academic Advice

So my faith in enrolling Ai of Pittsburgh (Online Divison) has greatly dwindled. Again. It's a pretty low reservoir mind you. Thanks to some sound advice from my "academic counselor" who was nice enough to let me know that he's switching teams and I might get a new academic counselor. What was the advice? It was regarding finding work before I graduate. I said I have been trying to apply for internships but I needed a certain number of credits to do so. He recommended 99Designs.com. It sounded pretty promising until he mentioned spec work... SPEC WORK.

SPEC-F*CKING-WORK.

From there he talked elaborately (or read off a script) on how I can do some freelance work and get some extra cash on the side. I just have to put my watermark on my designs and if I get picked, I can get paid for it. I could brag (lie) to that I've worked "internationally." Yeah, I really want to fill up my portfolio with that. My "academic counselor" even recommended Zazzle.com! Really? I would've expected notable websites to apply for internships. When I had my portfolio reviewed at San Diego Comic Con, I was recommended to try applying at smaller studios like BentoBox or Titmouse to get started. This guy tells me to make t-shirts and mugs.

Thanks man. Really.